Angana Borah

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91 8473928715

University of Helsinki, Finland

Master's Thesis: Subcellular localization of Dnajc14 protein chaperone in the presence and absence of Potato virus A (PVA) infection

Potato virus A is a RNA virus that infects and effects 40% of potato yield all over the world. It replicates in the nuclues, but some of its proteins are targeted to the cytoplasm. Dnajc14 is a protein chaperone found in potato plants which has impact in viral replication. Nuclear proteome analysis have shown that  Dnajc14 protein was present in the nucleus of healthy potato cells, while it was absent from the nucleus of PVA infected cells. This study was conducted to confirm the differential localization of Dnajc14 protein in healthy and PVA-infected plants. For this research work, Dnajc14 protein was cloned in fusion with Green Fluorescent Protein (Dnajc14-GFP and GFP-Dnajc14) and the localization of the protein was checked in both healthy  and PVA infected cells. PVA was tagged with Red fluorscent protein. The fluorescene was observed using epifluorescence microscope. This study confirmed that Dnajc14 protein was localized to the nucleus of healthy potato plants. When various microscopic views of the cells in different leaves were checked, it was found that in PVA-infected cells, the number of cells showing nuclear fluorescence was less than in the healthy cells. The decrease in the amounts of Dnajc14 protein in the nucleus of PVA-infected plants was calculated to be about 31%. The results suggest that there is an alteration in the level of this protein chaperone during PVA infection. 

Project Assistant (Level II), CSIR- North East Institute of Science and Technology, India